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The Amazon rainforest has been plundered for decades for rubber, timber and gold. Now, illegal prospectors are setting their sights on a new treasure: critical minerals coveted by much of the world.

A new frontier of criminality is emerging in the Brazilian Amazon, the authorities and experts say, with global demand for these minerals — used in many key products, like electric vehicles and fighter jets — setting off a rush of illicit mining in one of the planet’s most important ecosystems.

This comes as the United States and other countries increasingly look to Brazil, home to some of the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals, to loosen China’s grip on these strategic resources, which are needed to power many technologies of the future.

The rush for critical minerals adds to the decades-long exploitation of the Amazon for valuable commodities, intensifying the threats facing a vast, biodiverse region that plays a crucial role in efforts to slow global warming.

Brazilian authorities say that among the critical minerals being mined illegally in the Amazon are rare earths, a group of 17 elements that are especially important because they are needed to make powerful magnets used in a vast array of products, from drones to guided missiles.

The global critical minerals market, driven by the energy transition, is valued at more than $300 billion and is projected to more than double by 2035, according to the International Energy Agency.